Sheepshead Population On Rebound

The Great Outdoors - OUTDOORS

October 1, 2000|By Don Wilson, Sentinel Columnist

Florida's sheepshead are in better shape than the state's marine experts ever dreamed possible just a few years ago.

Four years after fears that the striped, toothy fish were being overfished and needed protection, a new study indicates there are more than 21 million of them ages 1 year or older. That means the plan state officials imposed in 1996 for protecting the sheepshead might be a case of overkill, and a 15-fish bag limit and 12-inch minimum size limit might be too strict.

Sheepshead populations are so healthy, in fact, the state could ease its fishing curbs without hurting the spawning stocks, said one state marine expert.

But members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who make the rules show little inclination to cut sheepshead fans any slack.

And the man who founded the Central Florida Sheepshead Association four years ago thinks that is a mistake.

In the latest study by the Florida Marine Research Institute, scientists found that the limits on recreational anglers, who catch nearly 90 percent of all sheepshead, far exceeded the fish and wildlife commission's goal. The agency wanted to ensure that at least 40 percent of the adults escaped capture to form a breeding nucleus.

Just three years after the rules took effect, 1999 survival rates were 47 percent on the Atlantic Coast and 49 percent on the Gulf Coast. If present fishing levels continue, survival rates eventually would reach 60 percent on the Atlantic and 53 percent on the Gulf. At these levels, it appears that the species is in no danger of being dented seriously by anglers.

In fact, scientists said, the level of fishing could be increased without serious harm.

"It appears that the stock could still maintain its production of recruits and provide more yield if fishing mortality were allowed to increase somewhat above 1999 levels," scientists wrote in the report.

Of the 21.6 million adult sheepshead in Florida waters, recreational and commercial fishers keep only 1.35 million a year, according to the report. Recreational anglers catch approximately 90 percent of all the fish.

In other words, anglers could be keeping a lot more of the fish yet leave enough for the population to continue to be self-sustaining.

Without hurting the overall populations, said Mike Murphy, the researcher who wrote the report, "Yes, we could relax the current rules. If we relaxed the rules, you'd be getting a better yield of sheepshead than under the current regulation."

Donnell Johnson of Orlando thinks the sheepshead rule could and should be changed. Johnson, founder of the sheepshead association, thinks the present rule is backward.

"The 15-fish limit has hurt the sheepshead fisherman, and the 12-inch limit has kept him from getting the size fish he likes to eat -- the panfish," he said.

Rather than protecting small fish, he said, the state should protect the large females that are the prolific spawners. Johnson would like to see a slot limit that would allow anglers to keep only fish that were between 8 and 18 inches long and to release the larger females.

"A female sheepshead that weighs 8 pounds is going to produce more eggs than you could possibly imagine," he said.

He also would like to see the daily limit increased to 25 or 30 fish per person.